IT layoffs: Priyank Kharge seeks report from labour department, offers to work with stakeholders

Kharge has requested for details as to whether any software employee has filed any complaint with the Labour department, and if so, how many of them have approached.ET Bureau | July 26, 2017, 08:58 IST

The Minister has also requested for details as to whether any software employee has filed any complaint with the Labour department, and if so, how many of them have approached.

“We are open to work with industries, industry bodies, and employees to see how the government could help,” the Minister told ET.

“It is a tough job to walk the thin line, satisfying all stakeholders,” Kharge said. “If i take companies’ side, it will not be fair to employees. At the same time, if i take completely employee perspective, it will act as a deterrent to investments. As a custodian, it is my job to ensure investments flow in continuously so that more employment opportunities are created.”

While there are reports of job losses in the IT sector, Kharge said, new jobs are getted created in the emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, animation, big-data, and gaming. “There is a huge skill gap, and the government is bringing tech companies and educational institutions together to provide industry-standard skills to students at an early stage,” he said. The government, he added, is skilling as well as reskilling people.

“We are ahead of the curve,” the Minister said, referring to the programmes the government is implementing in skill development. The government, Kharge said, is setting up centres of excellence in partnership with technology industries.

While the centre of excellence in aerospace is already operational, the one in big-data and artificial intelligence will come up by August 15, and another in cybersecurity will shape up in three months.

There have been reports of layoffs of software & BPO professionals in Bengaluru, and outside, but numbers have not been known. Executives at an software major in Bengaluru said hiring is not happening at their firm, though they have not been laying off either.

The Centre, two months ago, said that the Indian IT sector employment prospects, both in the near and long-term, are expected to be broadly positive and encouraging for the future. Indian IT companies currently serve two thirds of the fortune 500 companies and have created 40 lakhs direct jobs in India. “In FY 2017, the industry added 1,70,000 new jobs. NASSCOM has already publicly contradicted reports of large scale layoff,” said to a Labour Ministry report.

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